The Boy with The Dragon Tattoo

Chapter 152: Song brothers

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Luoyang has four antique markets: Wenbo City, Tianzijialiu, Sanyanju and Folklore Museum. In recent years, with the economic recovery and rampant tomb robbery, these antique markets have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

There are all kinds of people doing "business" in these antique markets. Some people put a bag on the floor and put a few things to start business. Most of them are vendors with fixed stalls. Those who have the ability to rent a facade on the side of the street.

People come and go in the market every day, and the cultural relics unearthed in the ancient tombs are also sold in a semi-open state.

A wretched old man in his fifties was introducing a business to a middle-aged Hong Kong couple. He pointed to a three-color horse in their hands and said: "This is a modern imitation in your hand, and the one next to it is just from the tomb. Dug out from inside."

The eyes of the couple were attracted by the pile of three-color horses in the stall next to them. The old man glanced at each other with the boss at the stall, and an imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

This kind of person has a unified name in this line of "nursing".

The insiders know that all the handicrafts displayed in the market inland stalls are made by modern people. Although they are all fake, the insiders can still see the difference at a glance. "Handicrafts" mainly fool those tourists.

In fact, 90% of the wenwan circulated in these markets are fakes.

Of course, it is not ruled out that some people have genuine products in their hands, but the quantity is very rare. Those who can reach the level of treasures are even rarer.

Those with counters and facades basically have real things in their stores—but not on the counter or in the store—when they see customers who are really willing, they will show you some accessories or spare parts first. I'm in the middle of the picture, I want to continue talking, only then will I show you the real thing.

If you want to make antiques on the facade of Luoyang, you must have "treasures" in the store, which is called the treasure of the town store.

If you want to do big business, you won't be able to get along if you don't have a few real guys in your hands. If you want to get real guys, you either know people in your hometown and get them from fellow villagers, or you get them from your peers, and more people buy them from brokers.

Those who do genuine business are experts in the industry, and they basically don't go to the kind of stalls—they are only traded through the introduction of friends.

The people responsible for introducing customers and blending transactions are generally called brokers.

Unlike ordinary vendors, brokers have a fixed source of customers, and they have a wide network of people, and they have contacts with all kinds of people from all over the world.

Buyers in the market come from all over the country and from all over the country. With the activity in the past few years, the popularity of the Wenwan market has become more and more popular. Many big buyers with deep pockets also come here.

Most of these foreign buyers are from Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Xi'an and other places. In recent years, there have been more and more buyers from Hong Kong, Macao and even overseas. They often have a lot of cash in their hands, and big bosses are behind the scenes.

Those large merchants or brokers have gradually formed long-term cooperative relationships with these big buyers.

Those who really buy and sell antiques are rarely seen in the antique market, because real treasures are not openly sold in stores, and they are often blended in secret places.

Some high-value cultural relics, brokers do not have the strength to sell, or feel that it is risky to hold them, they are held by the tomb robbers themselves, and when they meet suitable customers, they will take the patrons to look at the tomb robbers directly. The business is negotiated, and the broker gets a commission.

Of course, it doesn't mean that all the goods on the scene are genuine. Some people will cooperate with the tomb raiders to put some dirt in some broken tombs and tell you that they are genuine.

Buyers, sellers, nurseries, brokers, tomb robbers... As the market develops, tomb robbers are rampant. All kinds of people have formed a complete industrial chain.

When buying and selling in the antique market, what you pay attention to is "relying on eyesight, buying fakes and recognizing fate", which is also the rule.

No one forced you to buy things before buying and selling, and you are optimistic about things, can you buy them? buy! Okay, pay the money in one hand and deliver the goods in the other hand, and the payment will be cleared.

If you buy a good baby at a low price, if you make it, count your luck—of course, this basically won’t happen, and most of you buy fakes.

When you buy fakes, you can only blame yourself for being out of sight, admitting that you are unlucky, and you can't make trouble with the seller—not to mention the fact that there is no return.

Although there is no explicit stipulation, the entire Wenwan market has a default rule. Everyone does business in an orderly manner under the constraint of the rule. If someone breaks the rules, there will be a dedicated person to take care of you.

The Song brothers are the ones who "maintain" the market order.

The Song family brothers are not labor prosecutors, they are actually the biggest brokers in Luoyang City.

There are four Song brothers, and the Song brothers in Wenwan Jie refer to the eldest Song Biao and the eldest Song Qing.

The father of the Song family brothers was originally a famous chef in Luoyang, and he is best at three dishes: carp leaping dragon gate, steamed gurnard and Luoyang agar-agar. A good cooking skill is a ghost and a surprise. He is very famous in Luoyang and is often called. To receive foreign guests.

The eldest son Song Biao inherited his father’s business, and he used to be the head of a state-owned restaurant. Song deliberately gave his own craftsmanship so that he would inherit the mantle of his Luoyang celebrity chef. It’s a pity that although Laozi doesn’t hide himself, but his son doesn’t. Win.

This Song Biao learned to learn, but was unable to grasp the essence of the three dishes. Although he will be able to have the level of a celebrity chef, there is still a big gap between his father's master level.

According to Lao Song's comment, this son is not talented enough. If he can practice hard for decades, he might reach his own level. But what is terrible is that this son's attitude towards learning arts is not correct enough.

Song Biao waited on those high-ranking officials all day, and gradually became dissatisfied over time. He felt that his fate was unfair. It was born to his parents. Why are you sitting there eating and drinking? I have to stand here and lower my eyebrows. Serve carefully

Song Biao is an ambitious and ambitious person, and he never wants to be a chef all his life.

Like the old man, who has worked so hard for decades, and finally got the name of a master, he is just a cook. Seeing people's faces and serving others for the rest of his life, what is the future of this industry

Wanting to understand this, Song Biao threw away the iron rice bowl of the chef of the state-run hotel, planning to find another way out and become a self-employed.

After setting up a stall and selling a market, like most people, starting a business is very difficult. After tossing a few times, the small business is hitting the wall everywhere, and a little savings is lost.

Angrily, I didn’t do anything. I stayed at home all day thinking about how to get rich. I had nothing to do for a period of time, and I didn’t know what to do, until I went shopping one day and saw that old farmers in the country went into the city to sell tiles from the land. The jar of porcelain suddenly opened up: engage in antiques.

With the economic recovery of the mainland, some cultural relic dealers from "Laoguang" (from Guangdong) began to gather in Luoyang, looking for their respective agents, and purchasing antiquities hidden in the farm. They were generous, and the country folks never thought that these rags and rags that no one wanted could be worth so much money, and many people became rich overnight.

But the cultural relics in the family collection were quickly bought out, people began to think of digging tombs, and even in rural areas, there was a rhetoric of "If you want to be rich, dig ancient tombs and become a household with ten thousand yuan overnight.

That period was the golden age of tomb robbers. Myths of making a fortune overnight are everywhere. For this kind of business, most people turn one eye and close one eye. Although the risk is high, luck is good. You can build a building in one night to get a wife. "

Song Biao took the lead in this wave of getting rich, and after personal unremitting efforts, he finally became a well-known "agent"-Luoyang Dabroker.

Before becoming a big broker, Song Biao was just a small vendor. His first step in starting a business was to start at the grassroots level-to buy cultural relics.

The local peasants had a good impression of the Song family boss. He was kind. He came to the village to greet people and let cigarettes go. Chatting with the old men and old ladies was a long time. how much is it.

In this way, Song Biao successively bought many treasures at low prices, and then sold them and made a small fortune.

Song Biao would not be satisfied with such a small fight. With this "start-up fund", he received a batch of treasures that had just been dug out from the tomb from a tomb raider, and sold it to Laoguang from the south at a high price. The wealth increased by multiples and accumulated. The first pot of gold is out of control.

Seeing that the business is getting bigger and bigger, buyers from the north and south are starting to take the initiative to find him for business and purchase.

This principle is the same in all walks of life. Everything is difficult at the beginning. As long as you go out in the first step, after the capital and strength become bigger, the business will take the initiative to come to the door.

Because of his "fairness" and "rules", Song Biao gradually established a reputation in the tomb thief industry, and everyone turned to him to be his "agent".

Song Biao was too busy alone. At this time, his third brother Song Qing, under the introduction of the boss, also began to intervene in this business.

Song Qing is different from his brother Song Biao. Although Song Biao has problems with his attitude in the kitchen industry, Father Song still has great hopes for him and has not given up. He thinks the quality of this child is good. Should become the head of the family.

Although Song Biao has faded out of the cooking industry, Song Biao still came to the old mansion with crutches to "perform and educate". Song Biao had no choice but to eat and drink every time and wait and be careful. To coax away.

This Song Qing did not have such a good "treatment". He was stubborn and abnormal since he was a child. He fights and steals. He has not changed after repeated teaching. Father Song has given up on his discipline. He has long seen that this kid is destined to leave when he grows up. On the road of crime.

Daddy Song didn’t look at him this time. After he grew up, Song Qing really became a standard gangster. He spent the whole day at the train station, fighting with people and molesting the flower girl. No one could control him. He was caught several times. .

If it weren't for the second son of the Song family as a errand, he would have lost his head several times during the crackdown.

Song Biao feels that it is not the same thing that his third brother eats and drinks like this all day long. He has a successful career as a elder brother, and he is also obliged to lead his younger brother. Although doing "antique business" is not a fair business, it is better than every day. It's better to be a hooligan at the train station.

After joining the industry, Song Qing quickly demonstrated his unique talent in this industry. In addition to his eldest brother's business, he even developed his own set of new careers.

At that time, Song Qing had a group of horses, who were in charge of contacting people familiar with each village and looking around for clues. As soon as I heard that the tomb raiders in which village had succeeded, the next day they brought a group of horses to the other's home and asked to buy it at a low price, and the other party could only submit.

If the other party refuses to listen, move out of his second brother's name and threaten them to sue them to the bureau and not sell me? Okay, let me tell my brother that I will catch you tomorrow.

This trick has been tried repeatedly. His second brother has repeatedly carried the blame for him, which is also a headache. But the mouth grows on people's body, and he can't do anything he wants to say. The two brothers fought several times, and finally threatened to sever the brotherhood, and Song Qing promised not to ruin the reputation of the second brother again.

The loss of the "protection" of the second brother does not necessarily mean that Song Qing has converged, but the business development has become more "radical".

He has two leading horses under him: Chen Hao and Hao Yubo. They are also the kind of stubborn, hot-tempered, and anxious masters who even beat their own fathers.

This second general will often take a double-barreled shotgun to various villages to collect cultural relics. People were almost killed in a dispute. After going in for a few years in prison, he was still a "hero" after he came out.

With such a brutal subordinate, no one in Luoyang's literary and game world dares to stun their edge.

Of course, when the arena is big, there are those who don't know the situation, and there are also those in the literary and entertainment world who don't have eyesight.

One of Song Lao San's subordinates spent 3,000 yuan to buy a pair of plum bottles and a porcelain bowl from an Erdao dealer, but it was later identified as a fake cultural relic.

Song Laosan was furious. He ordered Chen Hao and Hao Yubo to lead a group of thugs, armed with iron rods and sharp knives, and kidnapped Erdao traffickers to the Xigong Mingyuan Hotel, interrupted one of his legs, forced him to return 3,000 yuan, and then compensated again. Three thousand yuan.

Such violent practices have undermined the practice of selling cultural relics "rely on eyesight, buy fake fate". No one dared to sell fakes to the third child for a while.

Because Song Lao San was so violent, some tomb robbers were so miserable that they were squeezed by him, so they asked Song Biao Song's boss to intercede.

Song Boss is also righteous and responsive. Although Song Lao San acted aggressively and arrogantly, he was only selling the boss's face.

No matter how stale the situation is, things are easy to handle as soon as the boss is out, so the final result is often that Song boss buys the tomb robber at a "slightly higher" price, "no one dares to sell it to me unless you sell it to me Song Lao San". thing.

Song Biao also has a group of horses, the leader of which is called Tonga, and there are more than 30 people under Tonga.

Unlike Song Lao San's gangsters who are good at fighting and making troubles, Tonga himself is also a professional tomb thief. Among his group of people, each of them has a few "workers" under him. Therefore, there are at least one or two hundred people who directly and indirectly obey Song Biao's orders.

After the business expanded, Song Biao was no longer satisfied with buying and selling, he began to find some tomb robbers to support the pot.

A pot literally means to build a stove and live at home.

When ceremonial ceremonies are held in some places, because they have to entertain a large number of diners, there is no fixed stove. Before cooking, a triangular block is built temporarily, and cooking utensils such as pots are put on to make a large pot of rice. It's called "support pot". It is simple and convenient to set up the pot before eating, and after cooking, the pot is removed and buried.

Later, the tomb robbers called their team to organize a tomb-robber gang "Ziguo."

If "the pot can't be supported", it means that the robbery was unsuccessful, and the tomb was lost. The black word is also called "going empty".

Not everyone can support a pot. The owner of the pot is responsible for organizing the staff and providing all personnel expenses, including tobacco and alcohol, food, tools, etc., and the expenses are not small.

Therefore, people who don't have certain strength can't afford it. Tomb robbery is not a matter of stability. Many times, it will go empty. The kind of grave digging for three years has no income, and the "supporting pot" is so large that there are many bankrupts.

It is not enough to have money alone. You must have a network of people, you can eat both black and white, and you must have well-funded buyers, so that you can maximize your profits.

For example, some small proprietors who are not capable have managed to build a pot, are lucky to produce some goods, they are bought and sold by Song Lao three strong, or they are scammed by other people to "rob the pot". After some tossing down, it is not bad to lose money. Up.

The antique industry has to go through a lot of hands from buyers to sellers. The more hands it takes, the thinner the profits. The second, third, and fifteenth-sixth-sixty-sellers basically eat from others. There are many people who eat, sell them to lose money, and smash them in their hands.

However, the Song family brothers have this strength. They not only have close ties with various tomb-robber families, but also master the most important buyer resources.

After several years of development, Luoyang's buyers have been divided into several major factions-not to mention the kind of petty people, but the strongest ones are divided into three groups.

The first route is Li Dana, a Macao cultural relic dealer. It is said that the gold owner behind him runs a casino, so this person is generous, often carrying large and small bags of cash to buy directly.

The second way is a man surnamed Wang, nicknamed "King of Guangdong." This person has a shrewd mind and a vicious vision. The gold master behind him is mysterious and is said to have a deep background.

The third way is the boss of Hong Kong's Zhan. Mr. Zhan is engaged in international trade, and relying on Hong Kong's special trade and financial status, his business spreads all over the world.

These big money dealers have become regular business partners with the Song brothers.

It can be said that the Song brothers have secretly controlled most of the cultural and entertainment market in Luoyang. In Luoyang, the Song family brothers must be invited to join in any business that has won the countertops.

Of course, there are "exceptions" in this. Boss Ge in Wenbo City is also a business owner. He used to be a tomb robber. After digging tombs for the first pot of gold, he didn't want to be afraid of taking risks underground. He was in Wenbo. The city opened a store to do some pour-in and pour-out transactions on its own.

Because he made his debut early and his qualifications are old, he doesn't put the Song family brothers in his eyes.

Once, a group of tomb robbers in Zhangling Village delivered a good product. Boss Ge obtained a Northern Wei sarcophagus from it, which was quite a well-preserved treasure. Boss Ge couldn't put it down after getting it, and decided to store this board as a treasure of the town shop.

A client from Fujian took a fancy to this Northern Wei sarcophagus and wanted to buy it at a big price, but Boss Ge sternly declined it.

After the Fujian client couldn't ask for it again and again, he reluctantly asked Song Laosan for help.

Song Laosan agreed and sent Chen Hao and Hao Yubo to organize more than a dozen people to bring shotguns to Boss Ge's house, requesting to "buy" the sarcophagus slab.

Boss Ge is also a sturdy person, and he will not die. Chen Hao and Hao Yubo are fierce. They put their shotguns on Boss Ge's head, and Boss Ge is about to splash on the spot. Fortunately, his family members noticed that the situation was not good, so they notified Song Biao in advance.

"Timely Rain" Song Biao hurried over and drank Chen and Hao.

Finally, after some bargaining, Boss Ge had to agree to sell the Northern Wei sarcophagus to Song Biao. Song Biao changed hands and sold it to Fujian merchants at twice the price.

Although the Song brothers walked sideways and vertically in the Luoyang antique market, they weren’t to see who would kill each other. After all, doing business is "making money with harmony". Every time Song Lao San gets into trouble with things, Song Boss will be "in time" Appear to help make peace and solve problems.

Some ordinary tomb thieves and brokers are often squeezed by the two, and they dare not say anything. However, some big tomb robbers and families still have a good relationship with the Song family brothers.

Song Laosan was so muddled that he knew who could provoke and who could not provoke him--for example, Wangye Ma, they didn't dare to buy or sell. Instead, the two parties have established a long-term cooperative relationship. When Ma Sanye delivered the goods, the Song brothers helped contact the buyer and charge a certain percentage of intermediary fees.

Nowadays, the Song brothers have not only mastered the supply of goods, but also controlled the distribution channels. In Luoyang Wenwan market, they are calling the wind and rain, and their influence has reached its peak.

The Song brothers, who are proud of the spring breeze, don't know that the rain is about to come, the building is about to fall, and the fall of the empire is actually just a matter of overnight.